Sudden Impact: Coming Home to Destination X

Hey wrestling fans. The Savior here with another edition of Sudden Impact, where we talk all TNA, and not the evil empire up north.

TNA has been on a roll lately. The overwhelming majority seems to agree, at least from what I see in the blogs and forums, that it's been putting on a much better show overall than the WWE. Last week, I asked if justice would be served, and the ratings would say, No. Not at all. I wish I knew what the answer is to increase the ratings. I had some ideas in a blog a few weeks ago, but who knows. However, as we head into Destination X, I just have one question. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING WITH THIS WEEK'S EPISODE?

Let's get into it. It's time for Sudden Impact.

Bully Ray/Joseph Parks

Was it a good move to open the show with this segment? I know that in today's wrestling, it's not likely we're going to get a blockbuster match to open a show, but was this the right move? I will say Yes and I'll tell you why. The crowd was energized. They love Joseph Parks and they love to HATE Bully Ray. So I don't have a problem with the way it opened.

Segment After Segment?

I understand the need to try and story build. That's what keeps us entertained and tuned in. But we're almost 20 minutes in and so far we've had opening segment, A Double/Hogan, Dixie Carter, then finally a lackluster match between Devon and Crimson, followed by Madison Rayne segment, Chris Sabin/Bobby Roode segment...you get my point. Talk about deflating.

X Division Qualifiers

I like the X Division tournament idea. I like how, just like last year, they're bringing in guys from the outside to qualify. What I hope for is, unlike last year, they keep some of these guys after the PPV, and build the division back up. This week's matches were a bit sloppy though. Especially Flip Cassanova. He had crazy moves but some of the stuff looked botched as all hell. I'm glad he won though. Dakota Darsow was very bland and vanilla and didn't scream X Division to me. The other match was bit more entertaining. There seemed to be some more botching but they worked it a little better. Kenny King showed some great stuff and awesome athleticism. Glad he won and was looking forward to seeing more of him....then he talked. Ugh. Keep the mic off these guys, please.

AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels

We have Last Man Standing coming up in three days. It is my hope that they end this angle when AJ destroys Angel once and for all. Daniels is good playing the heel though. But Kazarian? Hell, if I got powerbombed the way he did 2 weeks ago, I wouldn't be calling AJ anything. This angle has to end though. Seriously.

James Storm vs Jeff Hardyv

What can I say about this? I think the match, the crowd, everything speaks for itself here. It had everything you could expect. It had great action, high spots, close calls, and could definitely be one of the best matches since Impact went Live this summer. I did find it funny though, that James Storm spent like 2 minutes out of the ring, then as soon as he gets in and they lock up, commercial break. But that doesn't take away from how awesome this match was.

In other notes...

Madison Rayne's crush is on Earl Hebner? Really?

Gail Kim has some legal loophole that pushes the match back to next week?

All the segments they threw at us this week, and no Joe? Magnus? Kurt Angle? RVD?

Hogan is still as over as it gets. Gotta say.

I loved how Aries hushed the crowd's Yes chant. That was good.

All in all, I felt they let some air out of the balloon this week. I've praised them for revolving their shows around quality wrestling, and they abandoned that this week. I watched, really, one quality match and that was the main event. Not the best coming home show for a stacked looking PPV.

Just a final recap, we got AJ vs Daniels Last Man Standing. Ultimate X, Angle vs Joe, awesome. And of course, A Double vs Bobby Roode. I for one am looking forward to this one.

I hope you enjoyed this week's Sudden Impact. Thanks for reading and be safe.

Comments

Excellent blog as always. I agree with the Flip comment, but King on the mic wasn't as bad as all that. Check out some of his All Night Xpress work. He's got a good bit of charisma. The one thing that the X Tourney is missing this year is that "stand out" star. So many people remember Jack Evans from last year, even though he hasn't performed with TNA since. I think King could fit the role if Dutt wins, but if King wins then who is going to fill it? Some will say Rubix and others will say Andrews. But either way, I think this years tourney is still great, even though it isn't comparable to last years. My hope is that TNA continues thier Chikara and NOAH talent relations.

I know where you are coming from with the lack of high intensity wrestling this week, but I am okay with it. There was a good build for the Parks/Bully match, Roode's evil character got that much more heat with the Sabin segement, AJ/Daniels looks like they will finally be concluding this angle (GOD I hope so), and Aries looked good holding the WHC to close the show. I don't think it was the best show of the summer, but I still found it entertaining while they gave the stars a good rest before the PPV on Sunday.

First and for most great blog Savior. I wasn't able to tune in last night, yet I youtubed Impact right after your blog was posted. Despite the botches, despite all of the talking, TNA still put on a half decent show last night.

The lack of intensity last night, seemed minor. The talk and on going segments, leads to a decent build up for this Sundays' PPV. As much as we'd all love to have week after week of amazing programming, we must keep in mind that TNA only has one show a week to build up their storylines. Personally I was content with Impact last night.

The one thing I still give TNA props for is their "fan base". The one thing the E' lacks. Despite the horrible spots, and botches, the crowd was still alive. Smaller crowd/audience or not, TNA still gives me chills. Simply hearing such a lively crowd, despite the match, makes me want to tune in for more.

Well the only way to get ratings up, is for Spike to be in more people's homes. More availability.
Wrestling shows for the last decade have almost always started with talk, and too much of it, 15 -20 mins of talk too much.
Storm vs Hardy match was good but you knew what the outcome would be.

Nice to see some more x division guys from other places, but there was too much botching in the first match.

So am I the only one who thought that King bitching the final leg drop in his match and busting the guy's nose only served to male the march more awesome?

Well, the busted nose was on Dakota by Flip. Darsow stepped up too late to catch flip doing his corkscrew senton and as a result got caught in the face with the Flips heel.

As for the King botch? I don't credit the horrible Side Russian Package stunner botch on King more as I do on Lars. Moves like that have signals to indicate when to drop (like a normal stunner) and if you don't give the guy your working with the signal, or don't fall when you give the signal, it turns out botched. Think of it like dancing. If a girl gets dipped, but doesn't get caught, do you blame her for not following her lead, or the guy for not catching her?

Well, the busted nose was on Dakota by Flip. Darsow stepped up too late to catch flip doing his corkscrew senton and as a result got caught in the face with the Flips heel.

As for the King botch? I don't credit the horrible Side Russian Package stunner botch on King more as I do on Lars. Moves like that have signals to indicate when to drop (like a normal stunner) and if you don't give the guy your working with the signal, or don't fall when you give the signal, it turns out botched. Think of it like dancing. If a girl gets dipped, but doesn't get caught, do you blame her for not following her lead, or the guy for not catching her?